The ACAM Classic Arcade Tournament is Just Around the Corner

The 12th Annual International Classic Game Tournament (also know simply as Funpsot 2010 to many) is just around the corner. Scheduled for June 3 - 6 at Funspot, the world's largest coin-op arcade in Wiers Beach, Laconia, NH, this event draws the best classics arcade and pinball players from around the world. If you have been following my blog for some time, you know I covered this event last year and brought back a ton of cool interviews, pictures and videos. This year should be no exception. So if you live anywhere near New England, find a way to make it up to Wiers Beach next week and be ready to drop some quarters.

Below are a few press releases that come from Gary Vincent, Curator for the American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot.

12th Annual International Classic Video Game Tournament Seeks Players from Every State

Weirs Beach, NH, 3/8/2010 -- The annual International Classic Videogame Tournament is quickly approaching, and 2010 marks the 12th year for this historic event. The tournament will take place from Thursday, June 3rd through Sunday, June 6th, 2010. Tournament hours are Thursday Noon-10pm, Friday and Saturday 10am-11pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission is $40 and includes 200 game tokens and a commemorative color poster provided courtesy of The American Classic Arcade Museum. This year's tournament is sponsored in part by WPNH 101.1 FM , WFTN 94.1 FM , WSCY 106.9 FM & Gamer Soda. The first 200 registrants will receive a commemorative T-shirt and goodie bag.

Registration will be at the door only. The annual event is held at the Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, NH. Funspot is the largest arcade in the world and home to The American Classic Arcade Museum.

The 2009 tournament saw 160 entrants from 26 different states and 3 foreign countries. The goal for 2010 is to have at least one attendee from every state. Throughout the history of the tournament, there have been attendees from almost every state but not at the same time.

Each year, championship-caliber players from across the United States and around the world gather for four days of classic game competition, and the fun of playing their favorites in the world’s largest collection of classic arcade games still operating in an arcade setting. Players have come from as far away as Australia, Canada, England, Israel, Holland, Ireland and Finland to attend this fun-filled event.

Funspot has a long history of hosting competitive events dating back to the early 1970’s when they hosted slot car races on their huge indoor track. In 1978, Funspot founder Bob Lawton started the Friday Night Pinball Tournaments which attracted players from across New Hampshire. In 1980 pinball leagues were added to the roster of competitions. These events proved so popular that the weekly results were posted in local newspapers and attracted the attention of coin-op industry publications RePlay and PlayMeter. Frequent competitive video game tournaments started in 1979 with the state-wide Space Invaders tournament and continued on with “Video Game of the Week” contests where players would earn a roll of tokens for having the highest score at the end of the week. These contests were held at all the Funspot locations during the arcade boom years starting in 1980. In 1999, the first International Classic Game Tournament was held at Funspot and the tradition of this event continues today. In 2009, Funspot commemorated 30 years of competitive video game events at the facility by holding another Space Invaders competition during the 11th Annual International Classic Videogame Tournament.

For the 2010 tournament, there will be a 15 game video game contest and the Manufacturer’s Challenge featuring 6 classic games from a single manufacturer. Last year, Stern was the manufacturer of choice. Which company will it be this year? To keep the competition playing field as even as possible, the game selections will not be announced until Thursday, June 3rd, the first day of the 4-day event.

Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the video game tournament. First place will be $750, second place $300 and third place $100. There will be a $250 prize for the1st place winner of the Manufacturer’s Challenge. In addition, $50 prizes will be awarded to the winner of each daily Mystery Game Tournament; a popular segment which requires entrants to compete on only one game.

The American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot has been featured in numerous magazines and has appeared in several films. Many scenes from the critically acclaimed “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” were filmed inside the famous arcade as were scenes from “Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade,” a documentary by Men at Work Pictures of New York. In March of 2008, Harbor House Pictures of New Rochelle, NY filmed inside the arcade museum for six straight days for their upcoming film, “Altar of the Unnamed.”

Hailed as “The Mecca of Classic Gaming” by MSNBC, The American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot is the first 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and displaying vintage coin-operated amusements. Located on the third floor of the immense Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center, the museum celebrates the origins of the arcade industry with popular games from the past. Asteroids, Pac-Man, Centipede and Gorgar are just a few of the nearly 300 games in the classic arcade museum. The museum also contains static displays of game history and the walls feature many posters of vintage arcade games.

The Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center is located on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, NH. The facility was founded in 1952 by Bob Lawton and has been continuously operated by him and his family ever since. The 60,000 square foot center features over 500 games, 20 bowling lanes, a miniature golf course, a 400-seat Bingo hall, a restaurant, the D.A. Long Tavern, and a state of the art indoor golf center featuring six Full-Swing Golf Simulators. In June 2008, Guinness World Records named Funspot the largest arcade in the world. Funspot and The American Classic Arcade Museum are open year-round.

More information can be found at www.funspotnh.com and www.ClassicArcadeMuseum.org.

Funspot – Route 3, Weirs Beach, NH (603) 366-4377

Tournament Facility Guidelines
1.  Outside organizations are not allowed to have staff wearing clothing or uniforms that could mistakenly identify them as an "official" or anyone of authority within our facility. The display of these clothing items creates confusion with event attendees, invited media and invited dignitaries.  The event is operated and funded by ACAM in conjunction with Funspot and is a joint promotion for both entities.

2.  Outside organizations will not be permitted to set up or distribute materials on the Funspot property without prior written permission.

3. Use of the Funspot and or ACAM logos is by prior written permission and approval only.

4. No one is permitted to use the Funspot property during the tournament to promote events for their businesses or organizations.

5. The free WiFi inside Funspot cannot be used for streaming video. The system was never designed for this and as such, streaming video severely impacts the ability of others to use the system.

6. Video recording of another player’s game play may only be done with explicit permission from that player. As always, players may record their personal game play.

7. The setup of console games is not permitted without permission from Funspot and or ACAM.

8. Outside entities may not operate events at Funspot without written permission from Funspot.

The American Classic Arcade Museum implements new scoring system with the Apple iPad

5/7/10  Pac-Man, Defender and Frogger are hardly names you would associate with modern technology, but these old school games are being married with today’s latest computing technology – the Apple iPad. At the upcoming 12th annual International Classic Video Game Tournament inside The American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, the score tracking will be done with this revolutionary new handheld device.

“We were looking for a device that would enable us to have real-time scoring and portability for this tournament. After reviewing many handheld technologies, the iPad was the clear choice.” says David Hernly, owner of Aurcade.com, the official scoring partner to The American Classic Arcade Museum. The iPad will allow the scorekeepers to enter the information, and then players will be shown a preview to electronically sign their score. Then the score is uploaded in real time to the Aurcade Tournament System. For players, real-time standings and scores are shown on a projected screen for all to see. Gamers from all around the world who are not in attendance will also be able to view the real-time standings through the www.Aurcade.com website.

The American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot is very excited to have this technology in place for their 12th annual tournament. “It’s all about the players,” says Museum President Gary Vincent. “Using the iPad will enable us to improve the scoring process for our contestants and our referees.  We are excited to have the players experience this firsthand.”

Bob Lawton, owner of Funspot recalls the days when competition scoring was done with a pad of paper, a pen and a calculator. “Back in 1978, we started pinball tournaments and pinball leagues at Funspot.  All of the scoring was done by hand,” says Bob, “Having the iPads today is wonderful….I love new technology.” At the 2009 tournament, Funspot hosted a Space Invaders tournament to mark the 30th anniversary of competitive videogaming events held at the facility.  Bob adds, “Last year, I enjoyed the improvements in scoring from 30 years ago and I am happy to see it being taken to a new level at the tournament this year.”

Located on the third floor of the Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center, the Museum houses over 250 pre-1988 coin-operated games and is open daily at 10am. Featured in numerous magazines, Internet stories and films, The American Classic Arcade Museum is the first 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and play of classic coin-operated games. Further information can be found at www.ClassicArcadeMuseum.org 
The Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center is located on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, NH. The facility was founded in 1952 by Bob Lawton and has been continuously operated by him and his family ever since. The 60,000 square foot center features over 500 games, 20 bowling lanes, a miniature golf course, a 400-seat Bingo hall, a restaurant, the D.A. Long Tavern, and a state of the art indoor golf center featuring six Full-Swing Golf Simulators. In June 2008, Guinness World Records named Funspot the largest arcade in the world. Funspot and The American Classic Arcade Museum are open year-round.  More information can be found at www.funspotnh.com

Sega sponsors “World Championships of After Burner” competition at the 12th Annual International Classic Video Game Tournament

Weirs Beach, NH, 5/17/2010 – The annual International Classic Videogame Tournament at The American Classic Arcade Museum is quickly approaching. 2010 marks the 12th year for this historic event. The tournament will take place from Thursday, June 3rd through Sunday, June 6th, 2010. Tournament hours are Thursday Noon-10pm, Friday and Saturday 10am-11pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission is $40 and includes 200 game tokens and a commemorative color poster provided courtesy of The American Classic Arcade Museum. This year's tournament is sponsored in part by Mix 94.1FM, The Planet 100.1, New Country 106.9, My Arcade Repair LLC & Gamer Soda. The first 200 registrants will receive a commemorative T-shirt and goodie bag.

In an effort to maintain a fair and balanced playing field, the annual International Classic Videogame Tournament never announces the competition games until the first day of the event. We will be making an exception to this rule for the first “World Championships of After Burner” sponsored by Sega of America.

After Burner and After Burner II were classic coin-operated video games released to arcades in 1987. The games featured a simulation of aerial military dogfighting presented from a third-person perspective. For this competition, players will need to compete on the original After Burner II coin-op videogame, and the new After Burner Climax for the Xbox360.

Gary Vincent, President of The American Classic Arcade Museum, looks forward to bringing a new element to the annual competition. “We are pleased to have the backing of Sega of America for this competition. Sega has a long & rich history in the coin-op arcade world, and many Sega games are preserved in our Museum. We are anxious to present the merging of classic and modern After Burner gameplay.”

Tournament attendee David Hernly, who currently holds the world record high score on the After Burner II coin-op, was thrilled with the idea of this competition. “It’s great to see classics like After Burner revived on the modern consoles. After Burner Climax is a superb sequel that is a great game on its own, yet honors the gameplay of the original game from the past.”

“We are excited to have After Burner Climax be a part of this event and hope that everyone will enjoy this fan-favorite arcade game with others who have grown up with this franchise,” Derrek Peel, Associate Brand Manager at Sega of America.

Hailed as “The Mecca of Classic Gaming” by MSNBC, The American Classic Arcade Museum at Funspot is the first 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and displaying vintage coin-operated amusements. Located on the third floor of the immense Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center, the museum celebrates the origins of the arcade industry with popular games from the past. Asteroids, Pac-Man, Centipede and Gorgar are just a few of the nearly 300 games in the classic arcade museum. The museum also contains static displays of game history and the walls feature many posters of vintage arcade games.

The Funspot Family Entertainment Super Center is located on Route 3 in Weirs Beach, NH. The facility was founded in 1952 by Bob Lawton and has been continuously operated by him and his family ever since. The 60,000 square foot center features over 500 games, 20 bowling lanes, a miniature golf course, a 400-seat Bingo hall, a restaurant, the D.A. Long Tavern, and a state of the art indoor golf center featuring six Full-Swing Golf Simulators. In June 2008, Guinness World Records named Funspot the largest arcade in the world. Funspot and The American Classic Arcade Museum are open year-round.

More information can be found at www.funspotnh.com and www.ClassicArcadeMuseum.org.

Funspot – Route 3, Weirs Beach, NH (603) 366-4377

Here are a few pics from Funspot 2009 to get you in the mood.